It is being reported that police are responding to reports of gunman inside Garden State Plaza Mall in Paramus, NJand shots have been fired. The incident occurred Monday night at just around closing time of the mall located in Bergen County, NJ. Employes and shoppers were ordered to huddle behind locked doors in the mall’s stores. Many others ran to the parking lot for safety after shots were fired.

A gunman, dressed head-to-toe in black and wearing a black helmet, fired shots in New Jersey’s Westfield Garden State Plaza mall in Paramus just before closing time Monday night, witnesses and authorities said. None of the witness reported seeing anyone hit by the gunfire, and Jim Tedesco, the deputy coordinator of the Bergen County Office of Emergency Management, confirmed late Monday night that no injuries had been reported. Witnesses described a chaotic scene that unfolded as the sound of gunshots rang out inside the mall just before it was due to close at 9:30 p.m. Authorities ordered shoppers and employees to huddle behind locked doors in the mall’s stores. Many were escorted to safety, but many more — perhaps thousands — remained inside the mall under lockdown orders after midnight, authorities said.

A 20-year-old man wearing a motorcycle helmet and dressed in all black walked into a busy New Jersey mall minutes before it closed Monday night and began shooting, sending terrified customers running and trapping hundreds more in the building overnight as police searched for him.

Hours later, he was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in a remote area of the 2.2 million-square-foot building, officials said Tuesday morning.

No one was injured in the gunfire at Westfield Garden State Plaza Mall in Paramus. The gunman, identified as Richard Shoop, fired six rounds, striking an elevator, escalator and several store facades about 9:30 p.m. Monday. He was using a Sig Sauer rifle modified to look like an AK-47 that he stole from his brother earlier in the day, officials said.

UPDATE II: The Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office issued a statement shortly after midnight confirming that a “single male” had entered the mall at 9:19 p.m. and fired several shots. Tedesco said a shell casing had been recovered.

The gunman who opened fire at a New Jersey mall Monday night is dead after holing up in a back room at the mall and shooting himself in the head, a local prosecutor said.

Richard Shoop’s body was found at 3:20 a.m. Tuesday in an obscure part of Westfield Garden State Plaza mall, hours after he fired at least six bullets without striking anyone in the massive shopping center.

The shooting sent panic through the mall and set off a frenzied hunt for the gunman. In the early hours of the search, officials weren’t sure whether the shooter was still inside or outside the 2-million-square-foot building.

“We believe that he went in there with the intent to either be shot by police, which we call suicide by cop, or to take his own life, which ultimately he did,” Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli said Tuesday morning.

UPDATE IV: Richard Shoop had a drug history,but that there was no early indication why he carried out the shooting.

Chief Kenneth Ehrenberg of the Paramus police said that Shoop had stolen the weapon, a gun modified to look like an AK-47, from his brother. He used it to kill himself, said John Molinelli, the Bergen County prosecutor.

Molinelli said that Shoop had a drug history, but that there was no early indication why he carried out the shooting.

Remember when cowards who wanted to commit suicide did just did so in the shelter and privacy of their own home, out of the media spotlight? Not anymore, many seem to want to go out in a blaze of glory. However, thankfully no one was hurt in this incident except the gunman, 20 year old Richard Shoop.

What this does expose thought is that malls are incredibly soft targets for terrorism.

How many times must we say, don’t ever bring a knife to a gun fight, or in this case … a baseball bat to rob a gun shop.

Once again we are witness why we have a Second Amendment right to bear arms. So stand your ground is a bad thing, eh? So what exactly is the issue with self-defense and defending your property? As reported at KATU, 22 year old Derrick Mosley attempted to rob a gun shop in Beaverton, Oregon on Thursday armed with a baseball bat. As the not so bright robber smashed the glass display case with a bat, the owner of the store pulled out his own handy-dandy peace maker and pointed it square at the would be robber. Wow, what are the odds that the owner of a gun shop would have his own gun? Say it isn’t so! To add insult to injury to the not so bright robber, the gun wielding owner held the robber at gun point until the police arrived. Mosley was charges of first degree robbery, first degree theft, unlawful possession of a firearm and second degree criminal mischief

But they say when Mosley tried to steal a gun, the store manager simply pulled out his own personal firearm and pointed it straight at the would-be-robber. The manager then yelled some orders at the guy and got him to drop the baseball bat, the gun he had tried to take and a nine-inch long knife he had on him.

When sheriff’s deputies arrived, they found Mosley on the floor being held at gunpoint by the manager.

17 year old Grant Acord was arrestedThursday and accused of plotting a school bomb attack“specifically modeled” after the Columbine shooting. According to Benton County District Attorney John Haroldson, “the student at West Albany High School allegedly hid at least six bombs and bomb-making material in a secret compartment under the floor of his bedroom”. Grant Acord was arrested at his home on two counts of possession of a destructive device and two counts of manufacture of a destructive device. The DA also said that Acord, a juvenile, will be charged “as an adult with attempted aggravated murder.” Acord will also face bomb-making charges and “unlawful possession of a deadly weapon with intent to use against another person.” Acord is expected to be in court on Tuesday.

But Haroldson said today that Acord will be charged with aggravated murder in adult court. He is expected to be arraigned Tuesday in Benton County Circuit Court, the prosecutor said.

“The charge of attempted aggravated murder requires that we prove that a substantial step was taken toward the completion of the crime,” he said. “In this case, we would be relying upon evidence of plan. Diagrams, checklists, a plan to use explosive devices and firearms to carry out a plan specifically modeled after the Columbine shootings.”

Once again we are witness to an example where the dismantling of the Second Amendment would have not prevented this crime from potentially happening. The sick individual who killed innocent adults and children at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT used guns, but if an individual is hell-bent on destruction and death, they will find any method possible. Are democrats going to ban pipe bombs, Molotov cocktails, napalm bombs and explosives made from drain cleaner? Oh that’s right, they already are.

Sniffer dogs will search an Oregon high school for explosives before students return from the Memorial Day weekend, because one of their classmates was planning to attack them with bombs, police said.

The 1999 shooting spree at Colorado’s Columbine High School served as Grant Acord’s benchmark and inspiration, Benton County District Attorney John Haroldson said. But the prosecutor said the teen wanted to top Columbine in a planned attack at West Albany High School.

With the help of explosive devices, checklists and diagrams, Acord’s “goal was to model the Columbine shootings with some adjustments that would make it a greater success,” Haroldson said.

The prosecutor said police found six types of explosives in the 17-year-old’s possession after they arrested him Thursday night at his mother’s house in Albany, Oregon.

The bombs included pipe bombs, Molotov cocktails, napalm bombs and explosives made from drain cleaner.